Time Out!

Monday, March 12, 2007

I was jolted into reality an hour earlier this morning by the sound of my husband scraping ice off our van. I glanced at the clock, thinking, What's he doing? He said he wasn't leaving for another 45 minutes!

Then it hit me--actually, he was supposed to leave 15 minutes ago.

Yep, we missed the time change. This weekend was a jumble of time spent at home, venturing not into the snowy outer world, with nothing to remind us that time was about to fast-forward an hour. To make it worse, last night we made the unfortunate decision to stay up extra-late watching a movie and, ahem, anyway, what was originally just a foolishly-late night has now become stupidly-late. The advantage is--at least bedtime will come an hour earlier tonight!

So, you'd think in all that time spent at home this weekend, I would have found the time to blog about our adventures of late. Instead, the majority of our most precious commodity was spent knitting Ang's sweater (which is coming along nicely, by the way, Angela--it ought to be finished right about the time that winter is officially over!) and re-designing our Dream House. We are working on Dream House 2: The More Affordable, More Realistic Version. Jason and I started working on it on Date Night (aka Friday) at the Sunflower Café, and kept at it until Jason finished his ideal basement layout later last evening.

Yes, I said Date Night. We have worked out a deal with another family with boys about the same age as ours (the Gregorys) that we will trade babysitting services every other Friday (or every other Friday that no one is sick or out of town) so that we can get out. It's not even so much a matter of affording a babysitter--it's just that there is a distinct lack of reliable, experienced babysitters around that would be able to handle three boys, one of which is a baby. So, this way we both get to have roughly two dates a month, and the dates we DO have are just a little cheaper. (We might even try leaving the kids for a sleepover soon. That would be kind of weird and exciting at the same time!)

So, I've missed lots in the last couple of weeks while I haven't been posting about our family life. Firstly, Noah turned three on the 26th. We had a party the day before which was only attended by Robin Berreth and her kids, but the kids all had a blast! I made pumpkin pie tarts with loads of whipped cream for the birthday dessert. The kids ran around and had a hoot, and the adults got to share some visiting and some laughs. Good times.

Noah is saying more words every day. He has FINALLY within the last month started saying "want" and "don't want!" (Jabin already says his own word for "want" - "nana" with a pointing finger at the desired object.) Noah usually uses these phrases when he is either asking to do something, or complaining about something we asked him to do. ("Noah, go to the potty, please." "Don't want!") Yesterday he floored me and made what sounded like a complete sentence: "I don't want to!" Yipes! The boy is finally learning how to talk!

He continues to be fascinated by patterns, rhymes, and repetition. He knows (and by "knows", I mean he is actually starting to recognize and name without prompting) his letters and numbers. On Saturday, as the credits to a children's movie we had just finished watching were scrolling by, he started pointing at the quickly-moving names. "O! A! S!" And I'll be darned if he wasn't actually pointing at the right letters. The concept we are struggling with right now is "same." ("Noah, look at these three shapes. Which two are the same?" "See-cah! Tree-anguh! See-cah!" "Yes, that is what they are called, but are there two the same?") He just doesn't get it.

On the other end of the spectrum, Jabin is already showing signs of being an early talker. He learned how to say "Get it" last week. He'll throw a toy away from him, and then his little voice can be heard saying "Didit! Didit!" over and over again while he crawls after it. He has also done one-time imitations of over a half-dozen other words after I have said them. (Jar, bottle, up, down, more, let's go, etc.) I'm sure it won't be long before he rattles these off on a regular basis. He also has started to shake his head "no" when you ask him if he wants something that he doesn't. It's so nice when they start communicating! (I am convinced that Jabin's comparatively early cognitive and speech skills have something to do with the fact that I took cod liver oil in the later part my pregnancy. It was only after I gave birth to him that I started seeing research evidence that it actually makes babies smarter. I just wish I had taken it from the get-go!)

Jude is doing very well with all the schoolwork that we have been going through. It's been great fun to watch him learning and be so excited about it. We try to get to the library on a semi-regular basis to keep the supply of fresh books to read up. Last Thursday we actually made it to the library's Story Time, and the boys did a craft of making a bug mobile afterwards. That was fun. It was nicely coincidental that we had done our own bug craft the day before, and done a little reading about bugs. I intend to keep up the theme for a bit, since spring is just around the corner.

On Saturday, we started some flower seeds in some peat pellets, so that they will be nicely sprouted by the time the frost is all out of the ground. I thought it would be cheaper, easier, and more educational for the kids to grow our own seeds from scratch this year instead of buying bedding plants in a few months. I'm a little amazed that I am this organized this year--don't expect this to be a trend, or anything.

Anyway, Jude and Noah did pretty good with sticking to the project for the first 72 pellets, dropping their little seeds into the hollowed-out craters I prepared in each one, but I ended up doing the second tray pretty much on my own. That's okay--they get the idea, and as long as we can get Jabin to keep his little fingers out, and actually remember to water the things, it ought to be great fun taking the boys through the growth cycle this year from seed to harvesting sunflower seeds again in the fall.

That's pretty much all I have time to report for now (and I'm sure your reading endurance is waning), so I'll just leave the rest of this for another time, and hope that next time, I'll take the time to update our life and times in a bit more timely of a fashion. (I know. Time to go.)

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comments

Jason scraping the ice off the car. Yes, that is northern life. If you need a little bit of spring in your heart then check this out. It's one of my favourite blogs because it's always so sweet and uplifting. Anyhoo ....

I'm glad to hear about your Date Nights! And Dream Homes and what not! It must feel nice just to have a change of scenery in which no one needs you to cut their food or wipe their chin. Unless Jay likes that kind of thing. Ha!

You weren't the only one that missed daylight savings times (which, incidently, I ABHOR!!! I want them to pick one or the other and just LEAVE IT ALONE!!!!!!). I call Grandpa & Grandma in Arizona every Monday morning at 7:00 a.m. my time (6:00 a.m. their time). Except this time, there was no answer....until 8:00 a.m. Grandpa isn't even sure Arizona does daylight savings time. I guess I'll have to move to Saskatchewan. They don't do it!LYMom

I can't wait to hear all the stuff the boys can say when you come down to visit at easter. I'm also excited to hear about the sweater. I'm sure it will look fantastic. That sucks about the time change, I actually remembered this year but I know those who forgot.Say hi to Jason!

Ooops! Crazy time changers. Sooo don't miss that! Just heard today there's a town 20min. from here, very close to the AB border that switches their time with AB. Weird eh? I think most of the employed there must work rigs connected with Lloydminster. Great to hear your dating again--always needed. And your boys are so cute. Miss ya like crazy!

Rohini - Gluesticks are the friend of mothers with preschoolers. And for the first while, you will have to apply the glue mostly yourself. I still apply the glue for Noah, then let him stick the piece down. (The craft at the library used white liquid glue applied with popsicle sticks, but this was beyond the skill level of nearly every kid there, and the moms ended up doing the majority of the craft for them.)

Mom - And they made it even more interesting by bringing it on a month early this year! Eep!

Ang - Will do. And I have to say, I am super-excited to hear all the you have to say when we come down at Easter, too! It will be so nice to have a good face-to-face visit. Yippee!

Dawn - That is kind of weird. Well, I guess the advantage is that we now suddenly have light until after 8 p.m. again. Gee, I guess I really better get the curtains for Jabin's room sewn up before it gets too much later (and lighter) in the year. Miss ya' back!

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